Louisiana’s attorney general, Elizabeth Murrill, is vowing not to give up on the state’s efforts to extradite a New York-based doctor who shipped abortion medication to the Pelican State even as her office launches another investigation into the doctor. 

Louisiana officials have been seeking to extradite a doctor in New York, Margaret Carpenter, indicted for allegedly mailing abortion medication to a minor. New York’s governor, Kathy Hochul, has defiantly declared that she will not honor the extradition request, and the standoff seems to have been frozen in place.

However, Ms. Murrill said this week that state officials are investigating Ms. Carpenter for another case of sending abortion medication to another woman in Louisiana. During a hearing of the Louisiana house civil law and procedure committee, Ms. Murrill said her office and police at Shreveport are investigating the case of a woman who was 20 weeks pregnant when she was allegedly prescribed abortion medication by Ms. Carpenter. 

The second case involving Ms. Carpenter could increase pressure on Louisiana officials to seek a writ of mandamus in an attempt to force officials in New York — where a so-called shield law protects abortion providers from civil or criminal penalties — to comply with the extradition request.

Ms. Hochul has stated that she will not approve the extradition warrant, “not now, not ever.” 

The fight over extradition and other penalties against doctors who mail abortion medication to states with abortion bans could set up a legal battle that tests the limits of those shield laws. 

Article IV Section 2 of the Constitution states that anyone who “shall flee from Justice and be found in another state” shall be “delivered up” to the state that filed the extradition request. The Supreme Court has ordered states to honor extradition requests to return fugitives to states where they allegedly committed a crime. 

However, because Ms. Carpenter was not in Louisiana when she prescribed the pills, there are questions about whether she qualifies as a fugitive. New York’s law states that it would extradite a defendant if the “demanding” state alleges that the individual committed a crime and then “fled from that state,” which Louisiana officials have not alleged.

During Monday’s hearing, Ms. Murrill stated that Louisiana officials will not “stop trying to extradite [Ms. Carpenter] and prosecute her for the crimes that she’s committing in our state.”

The attorney general’s office did not respond to the Sun’s request for comment about what steps it might take in light of its second investigation into Ms. Carpenter. 

Regardless of where the second investigation leads, Ms. Murrill said the case is another example of why the state should pass another bill pending in the state legislature aimed at cracking down on abortion. 

The legislation, House Bill 575, would allow pregnant women, the “grandparents of the unborn child,” and legal guardians —  if the case involves a minor who was pregnant — to sue “any person who performs, causes or substantially facilitates an abortion.” The bill would also allow the parents of a rapist to sue if a woman received an abortion for a pregnancy that was the result of a rape. However, the rapist could not sue.

Those at risk of being sued also include individuals involved in the “manufacturing, administering, prescribing, dispensing, distributing, or selling an abortion-inducing drug.” Additionally, lawsuits could be filed even if the abortion medication did not end a pregnancy. 

Current law bans abortion in most cases in Louisiana, and women who were pregnant can sue abortion providers in civil court for ending their pregnancy. 

The bill would also let Louisiana residents file lawsuits against out-of-state abortion providers, such as Ms. Carpenter. A state lawmaker, Lauren Ventrella, said she introduced the bill as “another tool in the toolbox” to crack down on abortion medication being mailed to the state.

Ms. Murrill supported the legislation, saying, “The problem that we have is that there are activists who are intent on sending these pills to people through the mail.”

The civil law and procedure committee advanced the bill in an 8-2 vote, and it will go to the full house for a vote.

If the law is passed, it is unclear what impact it will have. An acting court clerk in New York, Taylor Bruck, refused to enforce a fine issued in Texas against Ms. Carpenter for mailing abortion medication to the state. Mr. Bruck also declared that he would “refuse any similar filings that may come to our office.”